


I Thought Field Trips Were Supposed to be Fun?

by angryjane



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: And Tony Is Not Having It, BAMF Michelle Jones, Because Tony Adopted Him, Flash is a dick, Flash is redeemable, Flash is trying his best, May is Dead, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Peter Lives At Stark Tower, Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker's Field Trip to Stark Industries, Peter is Not Impressed, Peter is a Little Shit, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, flash is also a little gay for peter, more tags soon, owo, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2019-10-18 21:48:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17589053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angryjane/pseuds/angryjane
Summary: Peter Parker goes on a field trip to SI. It goes exactly how you'd think.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i know everyone does this trope but i looooovvvveee it so here.
> 
> Post Homecoming, Pre Infinity War, also Civil War got solved,,, civilly  
> ALSO uh May is dead, sorry, and so Tony adopted Peter and he lives in the Tower w the Avengers.

"Shit."

            It starts like this: Peter's Decathlon team is on a roll. Things were a bit rocky after losing their team captain, but MJ had whipped them into shape and by now they were mostly a functioning team. Flash was still a dick and Abe still cried when he got a question wrong but they were trying, and overall things were great.

            That is, until Mr. Harrington announced they'd be going on a field trip to Stark Tower as a reward for all their hard work.

            "I need these slips back by Wednesday," he was currently telling them, not that any of them were listening, too busy chattering excitedly about the trip to care what their supervisor had to say, "And I want everyone to be on their best behavior at the Tower. Mr. Stark has graciously allowed us to go on the tour at such short notice, and I expect you all to be respectful."

            Peter tuned him out in favor of full-on panic. This was, in a word, bad. Of course, _of fucking course_ he'd be going on a field trip to his own home, in typical Parker Luck fashion. He was already in over his head, and now this?

            "Peter? Peter, you okay?" Ned was asking, a hand on his shoulder. "You look a little pale. You good?"

            "Good?" Peter scoffed in return, "No I am not _good_ , Ned. This is going to be a disaster."

            "I'm sure it will be fine. I mean, it's the Avengers, Peter--"

            "And that's exactly why it's going to be a disaster." He groaned, running a hand through his hair, "You know how they can be, Ned. And what's gonna happen when the rest of the team finds out I live with the fucking Avengers?"

            "I mean, they already know you moved in with a foster family of sorts after May..." Trailing off, Ned cleared his throat, "That family just happens to be the Avengers. No big deal, right?" At Peter's look, he sighed, "Okay, yeah big deal. Huge deal, I still can't believe that you live with the freaking _Avengers,_ dude, that's so cool. Does Captain America eat cereal for breakfast? He seems like a Fruity Pebbles kind of guy. And what about the Winter Soldier? I bet he likes Lucky Charms, wait no, Rice Krispies, wait no--"

            "Aww, would you look at that, the nerds are picking names for their imaginary friends!" Flash interrupted, coming up behind them. He smirked when Ned stopped talking, "Hmm. Parker, you ready for everyone to know you're lying about your fake-ass internship when we get to the Tower on Friday?"

            "I'm not lying, Flash." Peter mumbled, turning away from him. It was best to ignore him, even if what he wanted was to punch him in his stupid face. He _could_ , and it'd be amazing, but that's not what superpowers were for, not really. Superpowers, Peter reasoned with himself, were for punching Bad Guys. Flash might be a bad guy, but he wasn't a Bad Guy. There was a difference.

            "Sure, sure. I just can't wait to see the look on your face when you get kicked out of Stark Industries for lying to the world about working there. It's going to be hilarious."

            "Shut up, Flash, before I push your testicles back into your body. If you have any, that is." MJ interrupted, shoving her way past them. Flash scoffed, but backed off, opting to go back to his asshole friends, leaving Peter only with a weak glare. Peter shot Michelle a grateful smile, pointedly ignoring the butterflies zipping around his insides when she returned it, if only partially. Half-smiles from MJ were like gifts from God, in Peter's opinion.

            "Hey, Loverboy." Ned was smirking knowingly at Peter, whose eyes were still trained on their retreating team captain, "We still on for tonight? I got that cruiser set you've had your eye on, my mom bought it for my birthday. My place at six?"

            "Uh, yeah." Snapping his eyes away from Michelle, Peter turned back to Ned, "But I can only stay a little while, I have to patrol tonight."

            Ned sighed. As awesome as it was to be best friends with freaking _Spiderman_ , _actual_ _Spiderman_ , he missed being best friends with Peter. Just Peter, no strings attached. Or, webs rather.

            "Yeah, sounds good. See you later."

 

\------

 

            "So." Steve sat across the table from Peter, legs hooked around the chair he was currently straddling, eyes focused on Peter in typical Captain American fashion, a small smirk blooming on his face as he continued, "Your class is going on a field trip."

            Peter groaned, dropping his head onto the kitchen counter. Wanda snickered from behind her wine glass. It was so-called Family Night at Stark Tower, meaning the Big Table™ was pulled out, the Avengers assembled (but with less deadly purpose than usual), and take out ordered. For a group of masterminds and superhumans, the Avengers were shit at cooking.

            "Yeah, I have a field trip," He muttered, eying his family suspiciously from underneath his arms, forehead squished on the table still.

            "Where to?" Scott asked good-naturedly, bouncing a sleeping Cassie in his lap.

            Peter muttered incoherently.

            "What was that? Didn't quite catch it, Bug Brain," Clint said loudly from down the table around a mouthful of food. Nat grimaced beside him but said nothing.

            "To, uh. Here."

            There was a dreadful, dense moment of silence, in which the Avengers exchanged knowing looks, looks Peter did _not_ like. Tony was practically _glowing_. Pepper gave Peter a sympathetic look.

            He was done for.

 

\------

            The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and Peter was miserable. He sat beside Ned on the bus, forehead pressed to the window as he tried to drown out his teammates' excited whooping and banter. MJ sat across from him, working on a sketch in her Crisis Notebook. It was most definitely of Peter.

            "This is gonna be awesome, I'm so excited, we're gonna go to Stark Tower, do you think Tony Stark will be there? Will he-" Ned was talking nonstop, and for once Peter didn't find it endearing how excited his friend could get. He wanted to be anywhere but here. "Do you think the other Avengers will be there? Will Scarlet Witch be there? Or Black Widow? Or- Oh my god there it is!" Ned interrupted himself, leaning over Peter to get a better look out the window. And yes, indeed, there it was. Peter groaned, tapping his fingers against his thigh impatiently. He wanted this to be over. He would have stayed home, if it wasn't for the fact that _that was where his field trip was, honestly what the fuck_.

            The bus rolled to a stop in the vast parking lot. Peter noticed a Jeep that looked suspiciously like Clint's parked near the entrance and clenched his fist in his hoodie pocket. They'd promised not to do anything, though Peter would be an idiot to believe them; they were _them_. Also, he swore he saw Hawkeye cross his fingers behind his back when he'd promised, that absolute child.

            "Alright, alright, single file, let's get off in an orderly fashion, Flash don't do that, Abe put that down, come on people," Mr. Harrington was saying as the team stood and crowded towards the exit, "I want you all to be on your best behavior today. That means you, Flash, and that means you, Peter." He sent Peter a Look, and honestly Peter couldn't blame him; he did have an awful track record when it came to field trips. "And Michelle? Please try to be respectful. "

            "Doubtful, but go off." She replied, stepping off the bus, nose still firmly in her notebook. Mr. Harrington sighed.

            "Welcome to Stark Tower, you must be Midtown Tech!" A tall, strong woman called as they entered the lobby. She had blond hair and looked like she could snap Mr. Harrington in half. "I'm Helen, I'll be your tour guide today. Follow me, I'll get you your badges and we can get started!"

            She led them to the reception desk, where she leaned over the counter to exchange brief words with the secretary, a woman Peter recognized named Ellie, before grabbing a clear bin and turning back to the class.

            "Alrighty, so let me tell you a little bit about the security here at the Tower. Everyone, save a few individuals, has a security badge. There are strictly no reprints, so don't lose yours. Otherwise Happy will have your head," She chuckled, "And once you leave, these badges will deactivate, so that they won't fall into the wrong hands. You're welcome to hang onto them though. Souvenirs, or whatever.

            "Stark Tower has five levels of security; within each level of security there are three sublevels, Alpha, Beta and Gamma. Your passes are Level One, Gamma. These are the passes commonly used for tours like this one. Maintenance workers and other guests are given Level One, Alpha and Beta passes most often, only allowing access to the floors they have business on." Peter tuned her out, having heard the spiel a thousand times, and instead surveyed his teammates. Ned was hanging onto Helen's every word, eyes wide and smiling, while MJ had taken a seat on the floor to get a better angle to draw from. He wondered who she was drawing now; no one seemed to be in crisis around them. Flash was nodding his head like he knew all of this already, though of course he didn't, that prick. Cindy and Sally were whispering to one another conspiratorially in the back. Peter caught Abe staring doe-eyed at Cindy and couldn't help but smile. It was no secret that the two were pining after one another. That is, no secret to anyone but themselves. Charles seemed to be the only one paying real attention, other than Ned.

            "... Most of the Avengers have Alpha Four passes, excluding Tony Stark, who of course has an Alpha Five." Helen was saying, "Ms. Potts has a Level Five as well as one other individual. These three do not have passes; FRIDAY just recognizes them on sight." She clapped her hands enthusiastically. "Now, any questions before we get started?"

            Cindy raised her hand. "What's a FRIDAY?"

            "FRIDAY is Mr. Stark's AI. She runs the tower. You'll get to meet her in just a moment. How about I start handing out these passes in the meantime. When I call your name, please step forward. Sally Avril."

            Sally pushed her way forward to grab her pass. "Abe Brown."

            "Michelle Jones."

            "Ned Leeds." Ned shot Peter a thumbs up as he grabbed his pass.

            "Cindy Moon."

            "Charles Murphy."

            "Flash Thompson."

            "And one Mr. Harrington. Alright, right this way."

            "Wait, wait." Flash interrupted, pushing past the others to be in front of Helen, "What about Parker? Where's his pass?" He sneered, "You should just kick him out." Peter tensed from where he stood near the back with Ned. This was it. He was gonna die.

            But Helen simply regarded Flash steadily, making him uncomfortable. "Peter doesn't need a pass." She said evenly, before turning to lead the class forwards again. Flash had gone pale.

            "You'll all need to scan your passes through this machine, then step through the detector. Like so," She slipped her card through the machine, which lit up blue. "Helen Harper-Smith. Level two, Beta. No unauthorized equipment detected." FRIDAY said from above them, making the class jump. Peter stifled a laugh into his sweater.

            "Single file now," The class surged towards the scanner.

            "Sally Avril, Level One, Gamma. No unauthorized equipment detected. Eugene Thompson, Level One, Gamma. No unauthorized equipment detected. Cindy Moon, Level One, Gamma. No unauthorized equipment detected. Ned Leeds, Level One, Gamma. No unauthorized...." His class filtered excitedly through the detector, chattering loudly. Peter hung back, waiting for Mr. Harrington to go through before stepping up.

            "Hello, Peter. It's nice to see you again," FRIDAY intoned cheerily, the robotic tone from before replaced with an amused lilt, "Would you like me to alert Tony of your arrival?"

            "No, no, no need for that." He hurried though the detector without issue, FRIDAY giving a chuckle above him.

            "He has been alerted."

            "FRIDAY! I can't believe you'd betray me like this." Peter scoffed under his breath. He glanced up at his class, who were watching him with wide eyes. Sighing, he made his way back towards Ned, who was grinning.

            "What?! How?" Flash squeaked, red-faced, "How did you--?"

            Peter opened his mouth to spout some nonsense excuse, but FRIDAY beat him to it. "Peter is Mr. Stark's adopted son," She informed the team. Peter swore she sounded smug. "Peter, Karen tells me you haven't told your class about this. Why is that? Are you perhaps embarrassed? I have learned that that is a common emotion among human adolescents."

            "Karen told you?! God, I always knew robots would rise up one day," He replied, scratching the back of his neck nervously. He could feel his class's eyes on him, face heating up. The plastic security pass dropped out of Flash's hand, and Cindy looked like her entire life had changed. She leaned over to whisper something to Sally and Charles, who nodded. Peter stifled a groan. This was going even worse than he'd thought, and they'd been there not even ten minutes. He knew everything would go wrong-- Murphy's law and all that bullshit. Speaking of bullshit--

            "Pete!"

            _Oh god._

            "H-Hey Mr. Stark." He squawked, not turning to face his father figure. Tony had just stepped off the elevator, taking off his pink sunglasses as he went. The class gasped. Because this was _Tony_ Stark, doling out looks in a three-piece suit, walking up to _Peter Parker_ , local nerd, and actually _talking to him, what the hell?_

            He could hear the amusement in Tony's voice as he replied, "Bet you thought you could slip in here under the radar, huh kid?" Putting a hand on Peter's head to ruffle the kid's already messy hair, he tsked, "No way. Helen, I'll be taking over the tour, if you don't mind. Why don't you take the day off, spend more time with your wife. How many weeks along is she agian?"

            "Uh, eighteen weeks, sir. The morning sickness is almost passed, thank god," Helen replied easily, smiling at her boss. "Are you sure it's alright though?"

            "Of course!" Stark smiled wickedly, "I'm gonna be spending the _whole day_ with Peter's class. Isn't that fantastic?" He turned to smirk at Peter who was glaring daggers at him.

            "Yeah, that's just _great_." Peter said with all the sarcasm he could muster. Tony only laughed, hand slipping down to land on Peter's shoulder. With his other hand, he sent a salute to Helen, who scampered off dutifully.

            "Uh, excuse me," Charles asked, high pitched with excitement, "But what the fuck?" Cindy gasped beside him and turned to shush him, whispering in a scandalized tone about _how could he say something like that in front of Tony Stark, oh god, that was so disrespectful and--_

            Tony broke out in unrestrained laughter, choking out an amused, "I like these kids, Peter why didn't you tell me your class was so cool?" When his giggles had died down, he turned towards the class at large, straightening out his suit, "Alrighty then. Shall we?"

            There were murmurs of ascent from the class, who followed the billionaire in a daze as he headed towards a large elevator, calling a hurried, "FRIDAY, up their security clearance to whatever they need so I can take them wherever I want in the tower," towards the ceiling.

            "Yes, Boss."

            Peter moved to get to Ned in the back, where he was motioning at the spiderboy, eyes wide. "Oh god, he _talked to you_ , Peter, Tony freaking Stark talked to you, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna throw up, oh my god, I can't--"

            "Oh Petey!" Tony sing-songed from the front of the class, "Why don't you get up here and help me with this tour, huh? See ho wmuch you _really_ know about the company. You are the heir, after all." He winked at the kid, smiling wickedly.

            Peter groaned, but reluctantly pushed his way to the front. He passed a delightfully silent and distraught Flash, who looked a bit like he was going to pass out. It wasn't really out yet that Peter was Tony's son, or that he was the multi-million dollar company's heir. He'd always just been Peter Parker, the quiet dorky kid who skipped class, and he still _was_ that Peter, except now he could stop a bus with his bare hands and his dad was a genius playboy philanthropist billionaire. No big deal. Except it was.

            "Alright, so who wants to hear a bunch of boring mumbo-jumbo bullshit about how the company was formed, blah blah blah?" Tony was saying as the elevator doors closed, having successfully herded the class inside. No one raised their hand. "No one? Didn't think so. Now who wants to meet the Avengers?"

            All hands in the room shot up, except fo course Tony 'sand a tired Peter's. Even Mr. Harrington was sheepishly putting his hand up.

            "Hm. Sounds like a plan. FRI, who's in the training room right now?"

            "Captain Rogers adn Miss Romanoff, sir."

            "Perfect, take us there."

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Training with Steve and Nat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made it a little gay. sorry.

            Let the record show: Flash considered himself straight. He honestly did. Maybe a little bi-curious, sure, but who wasn't? And let's be honest, guys _could_ be pretty cute, and really funny and dorky and a little shy but also intelligent and kind and maybe Flash wasn't exactly as straight as he'd like to tell people after all but could you blame him?

            No, you couldn't, he reasoned, following Tony Stark through the most expensive building in New York, and there were two reasons.

            Exhibit A: Peter Parker. Yes, him. God, Flash used to think he really hated that kid until he pulled his head out of his ass and realized Parker was simply the beginning of Flash's gay awakening. Honestly, that boy was pretty cute. Flash wanted to kick him or kiss him and sometimes he didn't really know which it was but it was _there_ and it drove Flash crazy.

            (So of course, naturally, obviously, for sure, the only way to deal with this was to be a fucking dick to him, duh.)

            (Alright, Flash knew he was an asshole, he just didn't know how to be _nice_ to Peter. That's never been his strong suit.)

            Exhibit B: Spiderman. Oh dear god, _Spiderman._

            Spiderman could step on Flash and he'd thank him.

            (Still, he was no _Peter_ , I mean look at those curls and that smile and those dimples and his adorable little laugh and--)

            Either way, the point here is: Flash was having a crisis.

            Because not only was Peter Parker cute, he was also Tony Stark's adopted son. What the fuck.

            "Peter, why don't you explain..." Mr. Stark was saying, grinning at the boy. Peter mumbled a reply, eyes darting towards the ground shyly. A nervous tic Flash had noticed he did when he was anxious. Another was rubbing his wrists, as if there were a bracelet there.          

            Not that Flash paid any attention to Peter, of course.

            Cindy leaned towards Sally and whispered something in her ear. Sally glanced towards Flash, who realized he was staring at Parker, and laughed quietly, giggling to Cindy, "Probably." before turning to listen to Mr. Stark again. Flash felt his face heat and dutifully tried to pretend to listen to what Peter and Stark were talking about. Something about hydraulic power sources.

            The elevator dinged as they reached whatever floor Stark was whisking them away to, and they filed out. Peter stuck towards the back while Stark led the group down a grey hallway, jammering on about this and that. Ned, usually right by Peter's side, was hot on Stark's heels, hanging onto his every word as if he were the messiah. Which, he might as well be.

            Flash slowed a little, coming up beside Parker.

            "Okay, so." He tried. God, why did it come out so threatening, why was that the only way he knew how to talk to Parker? "Tony Stark, huh?"

            Peter sighed, a hand coming up to run through his hair. "Uh, yeah." Parker was eying him suspiciously, as if he expected him to attack at any moment. Flash couldn't really blame him.

            "Guess you weren't lying after all." Peter was looking at him, oh god how do you talk to people was he breathing normally did he smell alright was there something in hi steeth he'd never been so close to Parker without yelling at him or pushing him was this weird? it was probably weird did Peter think it was weird? Oh god-- "Listen." He cleared his throat, "I wanna say I'm sorry about--"

            "Peter! Come back here! You didn't think you could get away from your old man that easily, did you?" Tony Stark called from the front. Peter was still giving Flash that confused look, lingering for a moment before turning towards the class and making his way to the front.

            Well, shit. Better luck next time.

            Reconciliation was _hard_ , dammit. It wasn't like he'd never realized before how much of a dick he was to Peter, it was just that he thought it was beyond the point of fixing. And yeah, it was shitty of him to give up on patching it up before he'd even started, but Flash had no idea how to be friends with Peter at this point. And he wanted to. So badly.

            He looked over to where Peter was animatedly explaining something complicated and science-y to the class, hands moving wildly as the group continued to migrate thought he hall. By chance, the boy caught Flash's eye, and after a hesitant moment in which he stuttered over whatever he was going to say about nanotechnology's applications to modern day communication devices, he smiled. Flash smiled back. A real one, no malice, no bullshit.

            Flash was going to be friends with Peter Parker, if it was the last thing he did.

 

\------

 

            The training room was fucking huge. That was Flash's first impression of the place, all shiny floors and big panelled walls lined with weapons of all sorts-- guns, swords, bows and arrows, spears, drones, and... that thing. Flash wasn't really sure what that thing was but he wasn't really sure he wanted to find out.

            In the middle of the room, moving fast and furious, were _Captain America and Natasha Fucking Romanov, holy shit._ They were sparring, it looked like, Cap with his shield and Natasha with her bare hands, and it was fucking awesome.

            The class watched silently from the doorway. For once since he'd hijacked the tour, even Stark was quiet. Flash noticed his hand was rested comfortably on Parker's shoulders, and that Peter was smiling a little. It was cute.

            Not that you heard it from Flash though.

            After the pair had finished their round of sparring, ended by Romanov serving Captain America a swift kick to the back of his knees (Flash swore on his life he heard Peter mutter, "we shot him in the legs because his shield is the size of a dinner plate _"_ and _why did that only make Flash like him more?_ ), they turned to the gawking class.

            "Uh, hi." Black Widow said calmly, eyes ghosting over the frozen class. She smiled when she saw Peter, "Hey, маленький паук."

            "Hi Nat." Parker replied sheepishly, grinning back. That was not at all cute. Not even a little bit, Flash reminded himself.

            And then she was saying something in Russian and Peter was stumbling through a reply, _in Russian_ , when did he learn Russian that was actually really cool, and his face turned red and huh, that was an _interesting_ sight, and Natasha was laughing loudly, her head tilted back and eyes closed and mouth opened, and she seemed like the kind of person who needed to laugh more, Flash thought, and then she was looking at _him,_ and at the class, still smiling.

            "Okay children, who wants to learn how to kill a man?" She asked slyly, smirking devilishly, flipping her hair over her shoulder, the picture of the ballerina-devil.

            "There will be no murdering in my facility, Nat," Mr. Stark warned, pointing accusingly at the Black Widow.

            "Come on, Tony, that was one time." She shot back in a bored tone, but she revised her offer nonetheless-- "Who wants to learn how to brutally maim a man?"

            Tony sighed. All hands shot up.

            They filed into the room, sitting on the squeaky floors, all eight students and a bewildered Mr. Harrington taking a seat criss-cross applesauce on the floor, Tony opting to stand off to one side. They looked like a bunch of third graders, Flash was sure of it, except instead of listening to a teacher's story book about how to share with your friends they were learning about how to _kill_ your friends. Flash wondered if it was an appropriate trade-off.

            "Alright, we'll demonstrate a few moves and then you'll split into two groups to train with each of us. Sound good?" Cap asked, and the class murmured their assent.         

            Then they were off, explaining the basics-- punches and kicks, elbows, some basic knees. It was kinda like that one Krav Maga class Flash had gone to with his dad a few years back, except Natasha played much dirtier. As she threw her third uppercut into Cap's chin, he dodged, huffing,

            'That's enough instruction I think. I want to keep my face the way it is; Bucky likes it this way. How about you all," He turned to the class, "split up."

            Groups were sorted, lines were formed. Flash stood behind Abe in line to try and _punch Captain America how cool was that._

            When it was his turn, he stepped up to the man, squaring his shoulders. He could do this. He had an appearance to uphold.

            He pulled his arm back towards his face, lining his fists up to his cheekbones like Captain America had shown them. Power comes from the ground up, he repeated to himself, twisting his body slightly. He sent his fist forward, hips turning with it, whole torso twisting, pushing, and---

            His fist intersected with a sturdy palm.

            "That was a good start. You want to spread your legs a wider," Steve demonstrated, "And sink your hips a tad lower. That's it You'll get more power this way. There's more tork. Try again."

            He did, and it was significantly easier this time. It felt better, more powerful.

            "Very good! You might want to relax your shoulders a little more--"

            The star-spangled man was interrupted by a commotion to their left, where Ms. Romanov was teaching a gaggle of girls to disable a man's reproductive capacities with their foot.

            "Hell yeah!" Natasha encouraged as MJ kicked the tombstone pad she was holding with force. Flash moved to the back of th eline to let Charles have a try, and as he moved past the boy he noticed Peter was sitting on the floor against the wall, typing something on his phone.

            "Hey Parker!" Flash called, against his better judgement, "What're you doing over there?"

            Natasha stood up straighter as Cindy finished her kick, turing towards where Peter sat, not looking up. "Hey, маленький паук, don't think you can get out of sparring with me. C'mere."

            Parker looked conflicted for a minute, eyes darting from Flash to Nat to Cap and back to Nat, before he seemed to decide something and stood with a sigh. He headed to the center of the mat, where Black Widow had moved, while Cap ushered the rest of their intrigued teammates to the sidelines, smirking quietly. Flash sat back down on the floor. Why was Peter going to spar with the Black Widow? How did he even _know_ the Black Widow, anyway? Wait, that computer lady said he was Mr. Stark's son, right? So did that make Natasha Fucking Romanov Peter's... cousin? Aunt? Godmother?

            "And don't pull your punches," Nat said, squaring up to Peter, who'd shed his sweater and _oh,_ he was wearing a tank top and where the fuck did those biceps come from, Peter was always skipping gym--

            "But Nat--"

            "No buts, Spiderling."

            _Spiderling?_ The fuck?

            But they were off, dancing around the mat. It looked to Flash like they were doing ballet, or tap, maybe, not that Flash knew anything about dance. He was surprised how in sync the two were. Every time Nat threw a punch Peter dodged, shooting off one of his own. Every kick he sent out she avoided, going for an elbow.

            On it went, for what felt like hours to Flash. He was mesmerized, watching them move. It was oddly beautiful, and calming in a strange way, to watch them.

            But then Nat had him pinned.

            "You give up?"

            Parker seemed to think for a minute.

            "Do you?' He finally asked, and was that a smirk?

            He moved, flipping himself over Nat's body quickly, so now she was pinned, and he was on top.

            The Black Widow smiled, and huffed a laugh, and surrendered.

            What the hell?

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyway sorry for the wait and sorry it's shorter than the first part, but. it be that way.
> 
> whaddya think of my characterization of flash? good? bad? wrong? right? gimme feedback, if you can!
> 
> cap will be more in the next chapter, sorry he doesn't say much here. 
> 
> leave me a comment!! they make my day!!
> 
> have a wonderful day :) be safe :) stay hydrated :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The field trip must go on! And this tie, it's through Michelle's eyes!

            Michelle Jones prided herself in being hard to surprise. She was unshakable. She was steadfast. She was.... completely confused.

            Look, this wasn't the usual kind of confusion-- not, _how do you combine two sinusoids with unequal periods?_ Not, _what was that stain on Abe's shirt? Coffee or something else?_ Not even, _where the fuck did Peter get those muscles all of a sudden?_

            No, this was pure, unadultured, _what the actual fuck?_

            Peter Parker, the same kid who wore science t-shirts everyday, brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to school for lunch, who could recite half of Return of the Jedi in his sleep, had just defeated the Black Widow in hand-to-hand combat.

            Ever since she was young, MJ had looked up to Natasha Romanoff for as long as she could remember. The woman was amazing-- she took no shit, she did what she wanted, and Michelle wanted to be just like her.

            And Peter had just pinned her to the ground with a giggle.

            "Alright, alright." Captain America, that guy, was up front again. Michelle didn't care much for him, but she didn't hate him. In fact, she didn't hate any of the Avengers, not really. She thought Tony Stark was a prick, but he used his company to do good for the world, and he cared about Peter, so he was okay in MJ's book. Hawkeye was a dork, but he was a good father, from what she'd gleaned from Peter's rants and the ample news coverage; Wanda was like a sister to Parker too; Sam knew what was up; Banner was one of the most intelligent people Michelle had ever read; and Thor was a giant teddy bear.

            But most importantly-- Peter cared about them, so Michelle did too.

            She liked Peter, and she liked Ned. It was weird to have friends, or as close to friends as she'd ever gotten. Michelle had never really wanted friends, before Peter, before Ned. People were often put off by her bluntness, her habit of expressing affection in quips and sarcasm, her patented Resting Bitchy Face.

            Peter and Ned had taken all that, and run with it. She loved them for it.

            "Cap, why don't you give them some bullshitty speech about responsibility while I go make a phone call," Stark was saying, waving his phone vaguely before stepping into the hallway. Peter had moved back towards the group again, and to MJ's surprise she saw he was talking to Flash. Peter looked a little tense, but earnest, leaning the slightest bit towards the other boy, who was whispering animatedly.

            Good. She thought it was about damn time those two figured that weird tension out.

            "Language," Rogers scolded, but did as Tony suggested, clearing his throat and talking to the class, "Stark is right, though. It is important that you understand the importance of being responsible citizens in today's world. Back in my day--" He goes on, and MJ stops listening, as do the rest of her classmates. They'd all seen his PSAs. They didn't need this. Mr. Harrington looks like he wants to be anywhere else. Michelle can't blame him.

            "Cap?" Someone interrupts. It was Peter.

            "Uh, yes Peter?" Cap looks severely out of his comfort zone, sweating the tiniest bit, shifting nervously foot-to-foot. It's comical, if you think about it: this man faces aliens, war, _Natasha_ on the daily; yet here he was, anxious at talking to eight sweaty teenagers and a bored teacher. MJ pulls out her crisis book again, sketching his pained face.

            "I think we all know all that sh-crap, so why don't you tell us about the war instead?" Peter suggests, grinning good-naturedly.

            Rogers looks like he's going to fight back, but Natasha speaks up, "Yeah, Steve. Don't bore the poor kids to death."

            Rogers shifts on his feet again, glancing at the students before letting out a sigh. "Okay, who wants to hear about punching Nazis?"

            All hands shoot up.

            Michelle takes the time to shimmy through her classmates, not bothering to apologize for stepping on Cindy's hand or kneeing Abe in the chin--he deserves it, although Cindy doesn't--- and makes her way to Flash. He's still beside Parker, even if they aren't talking anymore, too caught up in Cap's surprisingly gruesome stories to chit-chat. Peter looks up when MJ nudges his shoulder with her foot. She motions for him to switch with her and he cocks his head to the side like some kind of inquisitive bird but listens-- he always listens to her-- and moves away. Michelle flops down where he'd just been sitting and pokes Flash in the cheek with her pencil.

            "Uh?" Flash asks quietly, not turning his head.

            "Hey, look at me. I've got something to say." MJ whispers back, and he listens, for once, and turns his body towards her. She notices he looks less annoyed than usual, something MJ likes to call The Parker Effect in her head. That kid has a habit of rubbing his cheer off on anyone near him. It's both infuriating and endearing.

            "So." She says.

            "So." He repeats, hesitant, wary.

            "Peter."

            Flash tenses. "Peter," He echoes again.

            She's never been the best at subtlety or tact, so she just says it:"I know you have a crush on him."

            Flash, bless his soul, sputters, red-faced, open-mouthed, adorably thinks he can deny it but gets one look at Michelle's face and thinks better of it-- "What of it?"

            "Nothing _of it_." She says smoothly, pretending to inspect her nails. She doesn't actually care how her nails look, she cares about Peter. "I'll say this once," She says it quietly, so Flash has to lean in to hear, "Peter, much as I hate to admit it, is my friend. And that means that if you hurt him, I have to hurt you." She looks up into his eyes, serious expression, "I think you'd be good for him, and God knows he'll be good for you, but Eugene Thompson, if you hurt him, so help me God, you will pay for it like you've never paid for anything before. We clear?" The last part is innocent, deadly.

            Flash gulps, but doesn't waver, eyes still holding hers as he shoots back, "I'm done hurting Peter Parker."

            They're quiet again, a staring contest between them, just Cap's voice and his war stories, then she nods once, twice. He returns the gesture and she moves to face front again, conversation over. That was good enough for her, she's done her duty as Peter's friend, made her move to protect the poor kid, made her stance known. Cap lectures on.

            At length, Tony comes back, interrupting a story MJ was quite enjoying about a red-faced (red-skulled, rather) man.

            "Alright, party's over, next stop: Peter's lab."

            Michelle finds herself smirking, glancing over at said boy, who looks like he's about to melt into the floor. The others look excited, especially Ned, who's more or less jumping like a puppy. It's cute. Ned is cute.

            Michelle would never say so, though.

            She hangs back, waiting to catch up to Peter, who's dragging his feet, glaring a hole into the back of Tony Stark's million-dollar head.

            "Hey loser."

            "Hey MJ," This is a sigh, and he's still looking at the ground.

            "Saw you talking to Flash earlier. You two cool?" She knows the smirk on her face is wolfish, and thinks that suits her just fine.

            Peter, for his part, looks even more put-off than ever. "I think so? I'm not sure. He started talking to me, MJ."

            "So? That's what people _do._ "

            "Not Flash! Not with me!" Peter's getting louder, and Charles, a few paces ahead, nudges Cindy and Sally beside him, gesturing with his head towards the two. MJ glares until they turn back around, as Peter continues, "He asked me about Tony, like actually _asked_ , like he actually _cared_ , and listened to me rant about how much I admire Mr.Stark without making fun of me or being all... Flash about it. It was weird."

            "Weird bad?"

            He pauses, both in his speech and in his movements, and MJ tugs him by the arm with her as the group approaches the stairs.

            ("Ugh!" Abe has the audacity to whine, "Stairs? What happened to the elevator?"

            "It's important to keep your legs moving so your mind moves with it, kiddo." Stark replies, smiling genuinely. Peter has mentioned once or twice how he thinks Stark should smile more, and Michelle finds she agrees.

            Abe doesn't seem to think so, but he follows without further complaint.)

            "No, not bad weird." Peter shrugs, "Flash is cool, when he's not being a dick. I actually kinda...." He trails off awkwardly, and his face is red. Michelle takes stock of his expression for a later drawing. (Peter is her favorite to draw, because he is very expressive. Kid really shouldn't get into poker. He'd lose.)

            "Like him?" She supplies at length, satisfied with her mental image of his pining face.

            "Um, yeah, I guess." Is all he says, looking down and away. Up ahead, Cindy giggles softly. MJ isn't surprised she's listening; Cindy has always been the local gossip. MJ had never really been friends with her, but she was okay. Smart, quiet until she didn't want to be, maybe a little meek but MJ could see her growing into her skin. She was rooting for her.

            Peter, again, stopped in his tracks, hand still on the rail. He had to stop doing that. She opened her mouth to make a dig at him for it, but he looked kinda.... broken. Computational error. Reboot necessary.

            "Peter?" She asked, and it was cautious. She'd never spoken cautiously before she had these friends. She didn't really care before about hurting people.

            "Oh shit. Oh, fuck."

            "Peter?" She repeated, leaning closer a tad, eyebrows scrunched.

            "MJ," Eyes wide, mouth hanging open, he really would catch flies one day, "I like Flash. Oh shit, oh fuck, no."

            "Language!" Tony called from somewhere at the front as he opened the door to the lab. The class filed in, and Tony called Peter to the front. With one last, entirely shook look to a smirking MJ, Peter went to stand beside his mentor. (Or, rather, father, it seemed? She was still upset she hadn't put two and two together before-- the "internship" was of course a stunt for his living at the tower, that had to be it, she knew that now.)

            Stark was smirking at Peter, saying something MJ couldn't hear, and Peter grumbled something back, but he was grinning, just a little, and oh, she could _see_ the resemblance, like father, like son. Even if it wasn't biological.

            "Alright, young'uns, Petey here's gonna explain what he does all day. Other than watch Youtube and fight crime-- oof!" Peter aimed an elbow int his ribs, glaring up at him, "And fight crime on that damned Xbox, I mean. Yeah, that."

            Hm. Interesting. She'd have to grill Peter on that later, because as far as she knew, Peter had never in his life given any semblance of a shit about any video game besides Nintendo. She would know-- Ned and Peter would never shut up about it. She'd eventually caved, tired of not understanding what they were going on about, and played a few.

            Now she was the queen of Animal Crossing, and Peter and Ned bowed to her.

            As they should.

            Peter was talking. "...And this-" He held up some gadget or other, "- is one of Nat's Widow's Bites. It's like a lil taser thingy. She keeps breaking them, so I'm trying to make them more stable, and rechargeable, instead of just one hit." He shrugged, dropping it back onto the table before grabbing another trinket off the table. "And this is something I've been working on for myself... It's supposed to be an anxiety monitor. You prick your finger like this-" He did, "and then you wait a minute and it'll tell you if your heart rate is too high, how to calm it down, and all that jazz. And you can log what's causing it, and it'll keep that information and show you patterns. Like--" He paused again, waiting, and then the little thing beeped, putting it out in a tinny little voice, "Anxiety levels: moderate to high. Suggested treatments: listen to calming music, play with a pet..." It went on, and MJ found herself impressed. Of course Peter would throw himself into something like that, helping people and shit.

            Good for him.

            "And, uhh.... I do other stuff but." He shrugged, "It isn't really that interesting."

            Flash's hand went up, and MJ saw Peter hesitate before calling on him.

            "No offense," He started, and Michelle tensed. She thought they'd gotten past this, she thought it was gonna be better, he'd stop being a dick, the'y get along, be friends, maybe more, and now here Flash was being a-- "But yeah, it is cool. really cool, dude. Like, amazing." He was saying.

            Oh.

            That was alright.

            No Flash-killing.

            For now.

 

\-------

 

            Half an hour later, they wound up in a cafeteria, getting handed food more expensive than the clothes they wore, ushered by a doting and surprisingly parental Tony Stark to a patio in the shade, given a picnic bench and thirty minutes while he went to talk to someone or other back inside, and yes, he'd be back for them, and no, they couldn't go exploring on their own.

            Mr. Harrington looked exhausted, but tried his best to tell them something or other about the logistics of the trip. No one listened, and he gave up, stalking off to sit under a tree and eat in peace.

            MJ found herself on a bench beside Ned, sharing fries and laughter, as Peter walked up, eyes a little clouded, confusion evident.

            "What's wrong?" Ned, that ever-caring bastard, asked.

            "Flash... he... was being nice again." Peter dropped onto the seat across from them. "This is weird."

            "No it's not, loser." Michelle found herself saying, because he looked so lost. "Come on, you're smart Peter, smart enough to be Tony Stark's kid. You didn't really think Flash hated you, did you?" At Peter's lost expression, she faltered, "... Did you?"

            Peter nodded.

            "Oh honey." Ned said beside her, and Michelle smiled.

            "Why is he being nice? What's he getting at?" Peter was obviously distraught, and it would have been pitiful if it weren't so fucking funny.

            "Peter... why don't you just try being friends with him?" Ned suggested, holding back a smile.

            "I guess I could try that. But-"

            "No buts. Be friends with him, loser. you know you wanna." MJ interrupted.

            Peter's biggest flaw: he got in his own way.

            "....Alright." He ducked his head, but MJ would swear on anything that that was a little smile she'd seen. What a dork.

            "Now that we've got that all figured out, finally, I've got a question." She was saying, and he nodded, head still pressed to the table. "Why the fuck didn't you tell me Tony Stark is your dad?"

            The sound Peter made was an inhuman cross between a squeak and a groan. "It's still kinda new, since it hasn't been too long, and it's really weird to have he world's greatest protectors as your family. Like, you wouldn't believe the shit I've seen, guys. this one time, I woke up kinda early, at like three am or something--"

            "Three am is _kinda_ early?" Ned butted in, but Peter ignored it, tensing the slightest and opting to go on;

            "-- and Bucky was just... there, in the kitchen, under the table, and his eyes were kinda glowy I think? It might have just been the glare from the fridge light, but holy shit it was scary, and--"

            Peter's interrupted again, as Flash drops a tray on the table beside him.

            "This seat taken?" He asks, and it seems oddly... hesitant for him. He's glancing nervously between Peter and MJ, to Ned, and back to Peter, eyebrows scrunched, chewing his lip nervously. Fear is a good look on him, but fear is a good look on everyone.

            "No." Peter says quickly, and Flash's face falls before Peter realizes his mistake and backtracks, "I mean, no, it's not taken; yes you can sit there. If you want. You don't have to, of course. But you can. But you don't... have to." Peter trails off, cutting his eyes downwards. He's red as a tomato, or, more accurately, that dastardly Iron Man suit.

            Holy fuck, this is gold.

            Her sketchbook's out and ready to go before Flash has even replied.

            Hm. MJ was gonna enjoy this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! how did you guys like this one?? what's your opinion on my portrayal of MJ? let me know!! i had a lot of fun writing her, so i hope i did it to your liking!!
> 
> have a nice day!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey sorry it took a hot minute i had some block for this story. and sorry it's a bit short, i just wanted to get it up. enjoy :)

Lunch was... something.

Peter still wasn't sure what was going on with Flash today, to make him suddenly nice to Peter, but he'd take what he could get. He found that without all the bullshit and bravado, Flash was actually... really cool.

Peter had always known that, deep down, but it was still odd to see that directed at Peter himself.

He found that he really liked Flash.

MJ was having a ball, smirking knowingly as she drew their faces throughout the awkward, stilted conversation they carried out over gourmet Stark food. Ned was cautious, but friendly, because he was Ned, so he was a literal angel at all times always.

"Okay, kiddos," Tony clapped his hands from the front of the patio, "Time to go check out R&D, meet a few geniuses, maybe blow some shit up, who knows. Underoos, you're with me."

Peter groaned, but stood, dropping his leftovers in the trash on his way towards his father. Tony grinned, clapping a hand on his shoulder and leading the way.

Things with Tony were spectacular. After May's passing, Peter had been devastated, and Tony had stepped up without hesitation, taking care of him and arranging everything while Peter mourned. He still missed her constantly, missed sitting on the couch poking fun of soap operas with her, missed commandeering her attempts at dinner, missed putting his head in her lap after a long day at school.

But Tony was amazing. Peter hadn't expected him to be so be so... affectionate, so attentive, so caring. It took him completely by surprise. In a hot minute Tony had gone from idol to mentor to father, seamlessly, and then one day Peter looked up while he was tinkering in the lab and realized that yeah, this as his home now.

"Right, so." Tony was pushing the door open to one of the main R&D lab, shooting an arm out in a sweeping gesture, "This is Research and Development. Go on, take it all in." He was smirking, because of course he was, as Peter's class oohed and aahed at the bustling lab around them. Peter, of course, was used to this, and slinked quietly off to one corner to talk to one of the interns he knew well.

"Hey Sonya," He said casually, "Whatcha working on?"

"New prototype for the hospital bots. Look at this," She poked a button on the machine she was holding, and the front side smoothed up into a curving grin. "Isn't that neat? Thought it'd make it more friendly to the kids."

"That's so cool, maybe if you added some kind of--"

"Kid," Tony called, "C'mere." Tony had a knack for interrupting Peter.

"You all are going to have a competition, judged by me and bug brains over here, to see who can make the best robot. Get into two groups of like, what? Three and four? There, yeah, that's good. You have one hour, and any materials you need. Just ask any of these dorks," Tony waved a hand at the scientists mulling around him, "and they'll get you what you need. Don't forget to plan things out beforehand. Go."

The decathlon split into two groups, Peter sitting out on the sidelines. Unsurprisingly, Sally, Cindy, Abe and Charles flocked together, leaving MJ, Ned and Flash as a group. Peter watched them work.

"This look good, Parker?" Flash asked after a time of the trio planning diligently, "Would this make a good robot? Up to Peter standards?" He was smiling, and for once his teasing held no malice, instead having more of a flirty edge.

Peter grinned back unabashedly, "I can't help you, Flash. That's cheating. No playing favorites." Peter-- known awkward mess-- tried and failed at a wink.

Flash's grin got wider, and he opened his mouth to say something, but didn't get a chance--

"Oh, so Flash is your favorite now? What are we, chopped liver?" Michelle butted in., waving a hand at her and a gaping Ned. She was smirking knowingly at him, adn what was that look she was giving Flash? It probably wasn't good, knowing her.

"Uh," Peter rushed, face heating, "I meant- I meant all three of you are my favorites. Yeah, that's what I was saying."

MJ snorted, turning back to their prototype. "Sure."

Peter quickly shuffled away, moving to look over the other team's' work.

He was _not_ blushing, and if, by chance, he was, it definitely was _not_ because of stupid Flash or stupid MJ's teasing.

It really _wasn't._

Peter was just about to head over to where tony ws standing, leaning casually on a whiteboard full of equations, getting Expo marker all over his million-dollar suit, when he heard a creak from somewhere above him, followed by a quiet swear. Furrowing his brow, he looked up at the metal vents above his head. It seemed fine, why would it be-

Oh.

"Clint, I know you're up there." Peter said loudly, head tilted up. "You aren't gonna surprise me."

The rest of his class was watching him curiously, pausing in their work. He probably looked crazy, talking to vents in a billion dollar tech haven.

"Yes I am." Clint said after a while, the vents creaking again.   
"No, you really aren't. Just get out of there."

"No. I don't take orders from twelve year olds."

"Clint-" He was cut off by more, louder creaking, and then suddenly he vent was crashing to the ground. Peter easily sidestepped the debris, unperturbed. This happened a lot around here.

"Hey." He said casually, glancing down at Clint, now sprawled on the floor and covered in dust and debris.

"Hey." Clint shot back easily, smiling, "Thought I'd... _drop by_."

"Oh my god."

 

\------

 

After the robot competition, which Flash's team won (not at _all_ because Peter liked it when Flash was happy and winning seemed to make him happy), they headed further into the maze of labs for a presentation by Dr. Banner. Peter wasn't much worried about him, because he was a gentle guy and would never purposely embarass the kid.

"Psst," Flash came up beside Peter, the two trailing behind Cindy and Abe, who were chatting idly, looking shyly away from one another. "I wanted to talk to you. I started when we were in the elevator-- but your, uh, dad? Interrupted. Pulled you away, I mean. As he should, he's your dad and you're a genius and all, and uh--" Flash stopped, sighed, ran a hand through his hair, started up again, slower--" I wanted to say I'm sorry. For being a dick and all. Y'know, for the past few...years..."

Flash wasn't looking at him. Peter didn't respond.

"...yeah. I know this is not really the best time, and it probably seems like I'm only being nice to you since the whole, Stark thing, but I swear, Peter, that's not-"

"I didn't think it was." Peter finds himself interrupting. Flash looks up at him, startled, and his mouth opens, closes, he stares. Like he's waiting for Peter to continues. He doesn't, so Flash does.

"Look, Peter, I... I think you're really cool. I never really knew how to go about being your friend, but I wanted to, it just came out all wrong. And I never know how to stop what I've started," he paused, cracking a smile, "Like this stupid rant I guess." He shuffled a hand through his hand again, glancing to Peter's eyes and sticking, "Peter, I wanna be better to you. For you."

Peter is, for the record, touched. And shook. So shook. Cause Flash is looking at him honestly, and Peter's gotta say, he kinda likes what he sees there. Kinda likes it a lot. He doesn't really know all that much about him-- he knows enough though. The dickish persona, the act, all to cover a vulnerability he won't show. Peter gets it, he does.

Maybe that's why he smiles, then, and puts a hand out to him, a peace offering, a promise of truce, of forgiveness, of friendship, maybe more.

"I forgive you." Is all Peter says, and he can see the tension leak out of the boy across from him, can see his smile relax, his shoulders loosen, his eyes brighten, and damn, happiness is a good-ass look on this kid. "Truce?" He asks, hand still out and open, palm up, waiting.

"truce." Flash reiterates. He puts his hand to Peter's makes to shake it, but that wasn't actually where Peter was going, and so his hand just flops around in Flash's. He feels stupid, he shouldn't of thought of hand-holding, that wasn't how people made pacts, you dumbass, Peter. He kicks himself. Flash lets go, eyebrow quirked.

"You good?"

Peter shakes his head, "Yeah, just peachy. Let's catch up with the others."

Flash unconvinced, so he goes on, "Really, let's go."

They'd stopped at some point, the others pushing on without them. Tony had sent a look his way, but ept out of it, bless him. It wasn't like Peter was gonna get lost.

"C'mon."

 

\-------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> have a wonderful day!!! and happy march!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY THAT THIS IS INEXCUSABLY SHORT 
> 
> i'm so sorry guys
> 
> its just been!!! icky lately and i couldn't bring myself to write this one and idk sorry but here!!

"If she breathes, she's a thot!"

"All women are queens!"

God, Shuri loved that kid. His vine game- legendary, if she did say so herself.

Peter's class shuffled into her lab, chattering with one another. Peter was at the front beside Tony, talking to his dad before she'd interrupted him.

She had their attention now.

"Excellent. Let's get started, gamers." She began, smiling widely at them. Peter giggled. Shuri mcfucking loved his giggle, it was so fucking funny. Especially when he tried to act all manly in his Spidersuit, doing that stupid low-voice thing and ruined it by breaking out the sweetest, most adorable laugh she'd ever heard.

It was actually pretty funny, how they'd met. Shuri was on her second visit to the Tower, and was to be spending four days there working on a project with Stark. This, mind you, was about a year back, when Tony was still deep in denial about his fatherly affections for the spiderling.

So the Princess and our local playboy-genius-billionaire-philanthropist worked away in the lab for three long and frustrating days, and finally hit a road block, a problem they couldn't solve. Shuri had draped herself over one of the lab tables, knocking gizmos and gadget to the floor, and groaned and grumbled and sighed, annoyed to no end that she couldn't see to fix this one issue. Tony hadn't even griped at her when she knocked his precious gauntlets to the floor, instead dropping his head into his hands.

They'd stayed like that for a few minutes,, silent except Shuri's sighing, until suddenly Tony had jerked out of his seat. For a hopeful minute, she'd thought maybe he'd solved it, but one look at his face said otherwise. He looked frustrated still, but also hesitant, and maybe a little... anxious.

"Stay here," He'd ground out, then left without another word.

She did as told.

He came back ten or so minutes later, just when she'd began to wonder if he'd given up entirely. But he was back, and there was... a kid with him. The fuck?

He was a scrawny little thing, with wild hair and big eyes, and he was jabbering away at Tony.

"Did you try rewiring the engine through the--"

"--yes, we tried that--"

"Did you reprogram the thrusters to it would--"

"-- didn't work because there wouldn't be enough power in the belt, Pete--"

"Well, did you... Oh my god, you're the Princess of Wakanda."

The boy stopped short a few feet from her, gaping openly.

"Yeah, and you are?" She'd asked, hand on one hip as she slid off the counter. "Stark, I didn't know you had a kid."

the boy begna to stutter, going red and looking away, while Stark simply shrugged, "I do now."

Peter's eyes had gone so wide at that, Shuri still lost it remembering.

"You.. uh, what- you-um." He'd looked back at his feet, away form his (holy shit was Tony Stark _blushing_ under those sunglasses?) mentor, and at Shuri, "I'm Peter."

\------

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the last chappie!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's been so long ahjdjlsafg; sorry

"Alright, kiddies, looks like it's about time to head out," Tony said, surveying the class in front of him. Today had gone well, overall, though he was sure Peter would give him an earful about it later tonight. He did do exactly what he'd been asked _not_ to, after all.

He just couldn't help himself. He had a _kid_ , and an amazing one at that; he just had had to show the world how proud he was. or, maybe not the world, but whoever would listen.

At least he'd convinced the others to keep a good distance. Scott had wanted to do the most _absurd_ things to embarrass the poor kid. Clint had managed to sneak off trough tehe vents, but he'd had Nat wrangle him back into submission.

Still, he had to embarrass the kid a _little._ he felt it was part of his fatherly duties. What kind of dad would he be if he didn't ruffle the kid's hair or make dumb dad jokes at every opportunity? It'd be a _crime_ , he reasoned with himself, not to.

Peter's class, for the most part, was loving it. Even MJ was smiling a little as they made their way to the lobby. She was doodling in her notebook, watching Peter and that kid Flash animatedly talk about Harry Potter, both giggling like idiots.

That was an... interesting development. Peter looked happy around the kid, so Tony would hold off on the shovel talk for now. MJ seemed to have covered it earlier, anyhow.

"Alright, you've got," Tony glanced at his watch, "ten minutes. Go pick anything you'd like from the gift shop. It's on me. Kid, c'mere." the class scampered off excitedly, even Flash, who waved at Peter before going with MJ and Ned into the gift shop.

"So." Tony started, waving Peter over to a bench nearby. They sat down, peter instinctively leaning his head onto Tony's shoulder. it made him grin. Peter was so affectionate, it was wonderful. "Flash, huh?"

Peter groaned, burying his head further into Tony's suit jacket.

"You two seem to get along, eh? MJ sure thought so. She was drawing you two lovebirds all the tour. Gotta say, I tend to like her happy drawings better than the crisis ones. Especially when they're of you." He chuckled, moving to card a hand through Peter's hair. "So, you gonna ask him out?"

The kid jerked up and out of Tony's hold, leaning back in surprise. "Ask him out! Mr. Stark, are you _crazy?_ "

"Maybe. I've been told that," Tony mused, grinning, "But I know what I saw. Ask him, kid."

"...But what if he says no?"

"He won't. Peter, you're like, the coolest kid ever. You know _me,"_ Peter rolled his eyes, but he was grinning, "And you're kind and selfless and funny and blah blah blah. Point is, kid, you're a catch. If Flash turns you down, he's an idiot, okay?'

Peter seemed hesitant, disbelieving, but nodded, looking sheepishly away. "...Fine. I'll ask him." He looked up sharply. "But don't you dare try anything, Mr. Stark."

Tony smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it," He lied.

"Mr. _Stark_." Peter warned, worry in his voice. He was all wide-eyed, it was hilarious.

"Of course not, kid. When you're around."

"Mr. Stark! _Tony!"_

Tony cackled, shrugging. Peter was all red now, and he practically shouted, " _Dad!"_ But he was smiling too now, leaning back into Tony's shoulder.

"Boss, there's a fire in the R&D labs. Your assistance is required." FRIDAY said from above them. Tony sighed.

"I gotta go deal with that, can you take the kiddos out?"

Peter saluted cheekily. tony rolled his eyes and stood, moving towards the gift shop entrance, where the students were gathering. Peter followed.

"See you for dinner? Nat's making pizza, and Scott's binging Cassie over. So, we need you on babysitting duty."

"Can do, Mr. Stark." He put his arms out. This was Tony's favorite part.

He wrapped his arms around the kid, leaning down to put a fatherly kiss o the kid's forehead , to which Peter stuck out his tongue.

"Bye, Dad."

"Bye, Peter. Love ya."

"Yeah yeah, love you too, see you at dinner!"

 

\-----

 

It was quiet on the bus, a tense blanket settling over the students. They were all just kinda.... looking at Peter, but every time he looked back at them they all turned away. He was getting fed up.

"Okay, what?" He snapped, glaring at Cindy, who happened to be closest. She leaned back, falling practically into Abe's lap. They both blushed.

"Dude," Charles breathed, "Your life is _so cool._ "

Peter caught Flash's eye from across the bus. He smiled. Flash smiled back.

"Yeah, it is."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the end!!! yoink!!!
> 
> i'm considering writing a follow-up one-shot about a spidey reveal, but idk if i'll get around to it. is that something y'all'd be interested in?? lemme know!!!
> 
> also?? i'm love all of you so much uwu uwu asdhjlkfg;fk;fnfd   
> y'all's support has been so wonderful i read each and every comment and i just dhfjkldg;hg love u
> 
>  
> 
> anyway
> 
> have a nice day i love you 
> 
> eat your veggies and drink your Respecting Women Juice™
> 
> <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

**Author's Note:**

> hey and uhh if you like this maybe check out my [twitter spidey fic!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17606027/chapters/41504699) it's lit and updates are every one-two days (for now)
> 
> hey uhh i know before it said it would be mj/peter but i changed my mind, re-evaluated what i wanted, and now it's peter/flash and mj/ned. sorry not sorry.


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